Name and explain the Basic Security Requirements

Answer 1

Basic security requirements are foundational principles and practices that help protect information and systems from unauthorized access and various threats. Here are some of the key security requirements:

1. Confidentiality:

   • Definition: Ensures that sensitive information is accessible only to those authorized to have access.
   • Explanation: This requirement involves preventing unauthorized users from accessing sensitive data. Techniques such as encryption, access controls, and data masking are often employed to maintain confidentiality.

2. Integrity:

   • Definition: Ensures the accuracy and completeness of information and systems.
   • Explanation: This principle is focused on preventing unauthorized alteration of data. It involves measures that maintain the reliability of data—such as checksums, digital signatures, and hash functions—that can detect unauthorized changes.

3. Availability:

   • Definition: Ensures that authorized users have access to information and resources when needed.
   • Explanation: This requirement emphasizes the need for systems to be available and operational when required. Strategies including redundancy, disaster recovery, and robust architecture help maintain high availability and prevent downtime.

4. Accountability:

   • Definition: Ensures that actions can be traced back to individuals or processes.
   • Explanation: This principle involves keeping logs of user activity and system operations to ensure that actions can be audited and tracked. Accountability helps to deter malicious actions and facilitates the investigation of incidents.

5. Authentication:

   • Definition: Verifying the identity of users or systems accessing the information.
   • Explanation: This requirement involves confirming that individuals or systems are who they claim to be, typically through mechanisms like passwords, biometrics, multi-factor authentication, and digital certificates.

6. Authorization:

   • Definition: Ensures that authenticated users have the appropriate permissions to access resources.
   • Explanation: Once a user’s identity is verified, authorization processes determine what resources they can access and what operations they can perform. Role-based access control (RBAC) and attribute-based access control (ABAC) are common methods used for managing permissions.

7. Non-repudiation:

   • Definition: Ensures that a party cannot deny the authenticity of their signature on a document or a message they sent.
   • Explanation: This requirement is crucial for transactions and communications; it ensures that participants in a transaction cannot deny having performed it. Technologies like digital signatures and audit trails help achieve non-repudiation.

8. Risk Management:

   • Definition: The process of identifying, assessing, and prioritizing risks followed by coordinated efforts to mitigate or manage those risks.
   • Explanation: Understanding and managing risks is vital to security planning. This involves the implementation of policies and procedures to analyze potential threats, vulnerabilities, and impacts to minimize the likelihood of security incidents.

9. Compliance:

   • Definition: Adhering to laws, regulations, and policies relevant to security and privacy.
   • Explanation: Organizations must align their security practices with industry standards and regulatory requirements (such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, etc.) to ensure legal compliance and protect sensitive information.

These basic security requirements form the backbone of a comprehensive security framework and are essential for any organization aiming to protect its assets, information, and systems from various forms of threat and attack.